Systems and methods for quality-of-experience driven in-transport communications

Abstract

Approaches are described for providing quality of experience (QoE) driven in-transport communications services. For example, in-transit communications services are provided over a network to content consumption devices on one or more transport craft. During a measurement window, delivery of the in-transit communications services can be measured to obtain network-level delivery (NLD) measurements, and consumption of the in-transit communications services by one or more of the content consumption devices can be measured to obtain customer-level consumption (CLC) measurements. The NLD and CLC measurements can be used to compute a QoE score that indicates a delivered quality of service as perceived by one or more passengers of the one or more transport craft. The QoE score can be used to update stored service level data. The update can cause generation of one or more service level triggers, which can trigger automatic remedial action to address QoE-related conditions.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method for delivering in-transport communications services, the method comprising:
 providing, over a measurement time window, in-transit communications services over a provider network to a plurality of content consumption devices via an in-transit terminal disposed on a transport craft; 
 first measuring delivery of the in-transit communications services during the measurement time window to obtain a set of network-level delivery (NLD) measurements; 
 executing a simulated content consumption device by the in-transit terminal in the measurement time window to consume the in-transit communications services in accordance with a simulation protocol; 
 second measuring consumption of the in-transit communications services in the measurement time window by at least the simulated content consumption device to obtain a set of customer-level consumption (CLC) measurements; 
 computing, as a function of the set of NLD measurements and the set of CLC measurements, a quality of experience (QoE) score associated with the measurement time window and the transport craft, the QoE score indicating a delivered quality of service (QoS) as perceived by one or more passengers of the transport craft; 
 updating service level data stored in a service profile store as a function of the QoE score; and 
 outputting a service level trigger responsive to the updating causing at least a portion of the service level data to cross a predefined trigger threshold. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 detecting the service level trigger, the service level trigger pre-associated with an automated trigger response action; and 
 directing performance of the automated trigger response action responsive to the detecting. 
 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , wherein the automated trigger response action comprises directing automated performance, to address an issue with the in-transit communications services indicated by the service level trigger, of at least one of: communicating a service call; executing a repair script; adjusting subsequent provisioning of network resources; issuing compensation to at least one of the one or more passengers impacted by the issue; adjusting pricing for consumption of the in-transit communications services; or generating a report for communication to a contract partner associated with delivery of the in-transit communications services. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 generating, as a function of the service level data stored in the service profile store prior to the computing, a set of expected QoE conditions for the transport craft indicating at least one of an expected NLD level for at least one of the set of NLD measurements or an expected CLC level for at least one of the set of CLC measurements; 
 wherein the computing is further as a function of the set of expected QoE conditions, such that the QoE score further indicates the delivered QoS as perceived by the one or more passengers of the transport craft as compared to an expected QoS. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of CLC measurements indicate at least one of:
 an amount of data of the in-transit communications services used by the at least one content consumption device of the plurality of content consumption devices in the measurement time window; 
 an amount of time the at least one content consumption device of the plurality of content consumption devices used the in-transit communications services in the measurement time window; 
 at least one device type used to consume the in-transit communications services by the at least one content consumption device of the plurality of content consumption devices in the measurement time window; 
 at least one content consumption application used to consume the in-transit communications services by the at least one content consumption device of the plurality of content consumption devices in the measurement time window; 
 a traffic type involved in consuming the in-transit communications services by the at least one content consumption device of the plurality of content consumption devices in the measurement time window; 
 whether at least one passenger of the one or more passengers associated with the at least one content consumption device of the plurality of content consumption devices successfully purchased consumption of the in-transit communications services in association with the measurement time window; or 
 whether the at least one content consumption device of the plurality of content consumption devices successfully communicatively coupled with the in-transit server to consume the in-transit communications services in association with the measurement time window. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second measuring comprises:
 communicating a prompt via the at least one content consumption device to at least one of the one or more passengers on the transport craft that is using the at least one content consumption device, the prompt requesting subjective feedback data from the at least one of the one or more passengers regarding the consumption of the in-transit communications services in the measurement time window by the at least one content consumption device; 
 receiving the subjective feedback data from the at least one of the one or more passengers via the at least one content consumption device responsive to the prompt; and 
 generating at least a portion of the CLC measurements according to the subjective feedback data. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , further comprising:
 detecting, responsive to the subjective feedback data, a mismatch between when the subjective feedback data indicates to output the service level trigger and when the service level trigger is being output; and 
 updating the predefined trigger threshold to address the mismatch. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of NLD measurements comprises a measurement of availability of the in-transit communications services in the measurement time window, and a measurement of data rate of the in-transit communications services in the measurement time window. 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the set of NLD measurements comprises a link metric measurement for at least one communications link between a provider-side node of the communications network and the transport craft. 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the service level trigger indicates one or more of a plurality of predetermined undesirable conditions with respect to quality of experience for one or more passengers of the transport craft. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the in-transit communications services are delivered to the transport craft in accordance with a set of contractual QoE conditions indicating at least one target NLD level for the set of NLD measurements and at least one target CLC level for the set of CLC measurements; and 
 the computing is further as a function of at least one of the set of contractual QoE conditions. 
 
     
     
       12. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second measuring comprises aggregating CLC data from multiple of the plurality of content consumption devices. 
     
     
       13. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the first measuring comprises obtaining at least one of the set of NLD measurements by the in-transit terminal. 
     
     
       14. The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the providing comprises communicating the in-transit communications services over the provider network from a provider-side network node to the transport craft; and 
 the first measuring comprises obtaining at least one of the set of NLD measurements by the provider-side network node. 
 
     
     
       15. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second measuring comprises obtaining at least one of the set of CLC measurements by the in-transit terminal. 
     
     
       16. The method of  claim 1 , wherein:
 the providing comprises communicating the in-transit communications services over the provider network from a provider-side network node to the transport craft; and 
 the second measuring comprises obtaining at least one of the set of CLC measurements by the provider-side network node. 
 
     
     
       17. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the updating comprises computing updated service level data as a function of an aggregation of the QoE score and a plurality of previously computed QoE scores. 
     
     
       18. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the second measuring comprises measuring consumption of the in-transit communications services in the measurement time window further by at least one content consumption device of the plurality of content consumption devices to obtain at least a portion of the set of CLC measurements. 
     
     
       19. A system for delivering in-transport communications services, the system comprising:
 an in-transit terminal disposed on a transport craft and comprising:
 a provider network interface to communicatively couple with a provider network over which in-transit communications services are provided to the transport craft; and 
 an on-board network interface to communicatively couple with a plurality of content consumption devices disposed on the transport craft; 
 
 a set of one or more processors, and a processor-readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed, cause the set of one or more processors to instantiate a simulated content consumption device to consume the in-transit communications services in accordance with a simulation protocol; 
 a measurement subsystem comprising:
 a network-level delivery (NLD) subsystem to measure delivery of the in-transit communications services during a measurement time window to obtain a set of NLD measurements; and 
 a customer-level consumption (CLC) subsystem to measure consumption of the in-transit communications services in the measurement time window by at least the simulated content consumption device to obtain a set of CLC measurements; 
 
 a service profile store having service level data stored thereon; and 
 a quality of experience (QoE) scoring subsystem in communication with the measurement subsystem to:
 compute, as a function of the set of NLD measurements and the set of CLC measurements, a QoE score associated with the measurement time window and the transport craft, the QoE score indicating a delivered quality of service (QoS) as perceived by one or more passengers of the transport craft; 
 update the service level data stored in the service profile store as a function of the QoE score; and 
 output a service level trigger responsive to the updating causing at least a portion of the service level data to cross a predefined trigger threshold. 
 
 
     
     
       20. The system of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 an automated response subsystem to: 
 detect the service level trigger, the service level trigger pre-associated with an automated trigger response action; and 
 direct performance of the automated trigger response action responsive to the detecting. 
 
     
     
       21. The system of  claim 19 , wherein the in-transit terminal comprises at least a portion of the measurement subsystem. 
     
     
       22. The system of  claim 19 , further comprising:
 a provider-side node to communicate the in-transit communications services with the in-transit terminal over the provider network, 
 wherein the provider-side node comprises at least a portion of the measurement sub system. 
 
     
     
       23. The system of  claim 19 , wherein the at least one content consumption device of the plurality of content consumption devices comprises a passenger mobile terminal. 
     
     
       24. The system of  claim 19 , wherein the at least one content consumption device of the plurality of content consumption devices comprises a passenger fixed terminal. 
     
     
       25. The system of  claim 19 , wherein the provider network comprises a satellite communications network. 
     
     
       26. The system of  claim 19 , wherein the CLC subsystem is to measure consumption of the in-transit communications services in the measurement time window further by at least one content consumption device of the plurality of content consumption devices to obtain at least a portion of the set of CLC measurements. 
     
     
       27. A system for delivering in-transport communications services, the system comprising:
 a set of processors; and 
 a non-transient data store having, stored thereon, service level data and processor-readable instructions, which when executed, cause the set of processors to perform steps comprising: 
 first measuring delivery of in-transit communications services during a measurement time window to obtain a set of network-level delivery (NLD) measurements, the in-transit communications services provided over a provider network to a plurality of content consumption devices via an in-transit terminal disposed on a transport craft; 
 executing a simulated content consumption device in the measurement time window to consume the in-transit communications services in accordance with a simulation protocol; 
 second measuring consumption of the in-transit communications services in the measurement time window by at least the simulated content consumption device to obtain a set of customer-level consumption (CLC) measurements; 
 computing, as a function of the set of NLD measurements and the set of CLC measurements, a quality of experience (QoE) score associated with the measurement time window and the transport craft, the QoE score indicating a delivered quality of service (QoS) as perceived by one or more passengers of the transport craft; 
 updating the service level data as a function of the QoE score; and 
 outputting a service level trigger responsive to the updating causing at least a portion of the service level data to cross a predefined trigger threshold. 
 
     
     
       28. The system of  claim 27 , wherein the steps further comprise:
 detecting the service level trigger, the service level trigger pre-associated with an automated trigger response action; and 
 directing performance of the automated trigger response action responsive to the detecting. 
 
     
     
       29. The system of  claim 27 , wherein the steps further comprise:
 generating, as a function of the service level data stored in the non-transient data store, prior to the computing, a set of expected QoE conditions for the transport craft indicating at least one of an expected NLD level for at least one of the set of NLD measurements or an expected CLC level for at least one of the set of CLC measurements; 
 wherein the computing is further as a function of the set of expected QoE conditions, such that the QoE score further indicates the delivered QoS as perceived by the one or more passengers of the transport craft as compared to an expected QoS. 
 
     
     
       30. The system of  claim 27 , wherein the second measuring comprises measuring consumption of the in-transit communications services in the measurement time window further by at least one content consumption device of the plurality of content consumption devices to obtain at least a portion of the set of CLC measurements.